NYC museum is giving antiquities to Costa Rica

The Brooklyn Museum is preparing to give about 5,000 pre-Columbian artifacts in its collection to Costa Rica as part of a housekeeping move to trim its vast holdings.

The museum will initially give the National Museum of Costa Rica 983 ceramic vessels and figurines that were legally acquired by American railroad magnate and banana exporter Minor C. Keith in the late 1800s. It eventually will transfer the other 4,000 objects from the Keith collection, curator Nancy Rosoff said Thursday.

The New York museum will retain about 10 percent of the collection, including some of the more valuable objects, such as gold and jade figurines and pendants, Rosoff said.

The Central American nation has never claimed ownership to the works.

Costa Rica's Culture Minister, Manuel Obregon, said that its state regulatory agency, the National Insurance Institute, will pay for the packing and transportation costs of the first shipment, estimated at $59,000. Rosoff said that shipment may go out as early as next month.